Good-to-Know Security Tips for the Home or Workplace

May 22, 2012 1 Comment

The following are some simple, good-to-know security tips for you to know at home and in the workplace:

  1. Warnings: Always click NO, or Cancel if you do not understand a warning message.  If you are at the office consult your IT support.  If you are at home consult the maker of the software or website you are using.  A lot of times there are forums available from users with similar experiences.  It is much easier to go back through and click YES if you need to than to be sorry and have to replace or rebuild your computer.
  2. Certificates: Always click NO, or Cancel if you don’t understand a website certificate message.  If you are at the office consult your IT support.  If you are at home consult the maker of the software or website you are using.  It is much easier to go back through and click YES if you need to than to be sorry and have to replace passwords and credit cards, and to rebuild your credit.
  3. Antivirus: Running antivirus does not slow your computer down nearly as much as a virus does.  Keep your antivirus software up-to-date and have it regularly run to protect against attacks.  It is better than rebuilding your computer or credit.  Some antivirus software now scans websites and will show you in a Web search if a website is secure or not.
  4. Back-up: Backing up your data may seem like a waste of time.  That is until you spill coffee all over your laptop.  Hard drive space continues to lower in price and is very simple to install.  Most of the time you just have to plug in the device and you can start backing up files.  A bit riskier, since your data is not physically in your hands, is online storage on the ‘cloud’.  But, it can save you desktop space and you can access it from anywhere with an Internet connection.  It can save you from repaying for music and software, and recreating lost work.
  5. Passwords: Writing down your password around your desk is about as secure as leaving a $20 bill lying on the dashboard of your car. Also, never provide your password to anyone who asks for it, and make sure no one is watching you type it.  How well do you trust anyone these days?
  6. Auto fill: Do not use it unless you are on a trusted computer on a secured network.  Not sure if you are secured?  Do not use it.  Also, it is not wise to use it on the workplace or on public computers.  You don’t want anyone to gain access to your accounts, the personal information, and have to rebuild your credit and possibly relationships.
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The Advantages of Partitioning a Disk

May 15, 2012 Leave a comment

What are the advantages of partitioning a disk, rather than using the entire disk as one partition?

When partitioning, you are dividing physical devices, such as disks, into independent sections; physically or logically.  This provides you with several advantages.  For one, each partition can have its own file system and directory structure.  This provides the option of providing separate operating system facilities on each partition.  This allows each partition to have its own bootstrap loader, operating system, and file management system.

A user may have certain files that require a separate operating system, or also perform better when separate from other files.  I have seen this work with a positive affect where a partition can be created to keep system critical software and files in a partition separate from the user’s programs.  If a virus or corrupt file is found, let’s say from a corrupt MS Word or Windows Media video file, it will already be separated from the system files required to boot and run the computer.

Partitions provide added security to important files, and also add to the organization you can utilize on a computer, much to the effect of using a tiered file cabinet over the chaos of just scattering papers on your desk.

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Boost Needed For U.S. Health and Communications

January 12, 2009 2 Comments

I just read about Barack Obama’s big idea to digitize health records. Good thing George Bush invented the Internet to pave the way for that possibility. Seriously, that idea has been around for awhile, but I’ll give credit to Obama if he actually puts it into effect and it becomes a reality. To his credit, Bush laid down some (only some as Bush turned down a child health care plan) technology framework to make it a foreseeable possibility. Will it happen? It needs to.

To digitize the health records, we will need to severely improve on our communication infrastructure. I liken our health and communication infrastructure to Barry Bonds. They hit a lot of home runs in getting things right, but once in awhile they strike out and lack in positive production. Once in awhile, someone does something illegal and gets into a lot of trouble (well he isn’t proven guilty yet), and not to mention the aging. Old age slows anything down, causing value to drop. Barry tried some quick fixes to lengthen his career, and the U.S. does as well with health and communication, but quick fixes don’t work. We need change.

Obama ran his race on the platform of promised change, and now the stage is his. We all know our economy needs a huge boost, and Obama knows this as well. One reason I believe it has sank is because we have fallen behind in cutting-edge technology and modernized infrastructure. Our technology infrastructure is not where it can and should be. How can the country who spends the most on energy, and really on almost anything, have an infrastructure that lags? I am real interested to see what happens with the stimulus, which hopefully goes to improve the health and communication infrastructures.

To improve health, we need to improve our communication technology. For a country with our resources, our wireless infrastructure really lacks. Gradually we are getting up to a 3G network across the country, but too many spots lack in that coverage. I live outside DC, coverage should always be full. Why am I sitting in my office off a major interstate and I only have one bar? Also, why am I so close to our nation’s capital and the power always goes out? I work in a very large business area, and already this year, the power has gone out three times. Signs of an aging power system, which heavily affects our communication infrastructure and the hospital that is right down the street from my office.

We need a boost. We should have improved, more cost-effective ways to further minimize down time of our power, digital, and mobile communication infrastructures. Once we improve on that, we can begin to build our 21st century digital health care system. We need to do away with paper patient files. Our health records should be available in a digital format, and not just because it saves trees. A standardized system of digital records would allow for quicker, easier access by doctors to diagnose patients faster. Doctors will be able to view past medical history and known allergies, as well as have insurance and emergency contact information available if ever necessary. These improvements alone would cause a significant drop in medical malpractice.

Digital health records would benefit the patient as well. Records would also be available for our own personal use. We can check to see when we last had a physical, what medicine was prescribed, and view past x-rays. Family’s can review visits for their children, and make payments online. Another improvement that would be great would be a system that links the doctor to the pharmacy. It would save time and money if a patient received a prescription, the doctor sends it to the patient’s preferred pharmacy, the prescription is ready for pickup as soon as the patient arrives at the pharmacy. Why should we have to take a paper and sit around for an hour for someone to fill a bottle with a few pills?

These are just a few ideas right now, but all greatly possible with an improved digital health care system, made possible by an improved communication infrastructure. An improved health care system would definitely decrease the costs of health care, but will it happen? There are so many dependencies. For one, the aforementioned communication infrastructure needs to be improved. Also, a lot of money will need to be fronted by the government to assist with such a huge makeover. There will be a lack of qualified personnel to make such an upgrade possible, so money will need to be placed into training individuals. The pros though would be the decreased health costs, improved systems, and the creation of a lot of new jobs to make this initiative possible; all boosts for a lagging economy.

Obama, you made the call for change. The ball is in your court. Let’s make it happen.

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The Office Job Entertainment Guide

January 10, 2009 1 Comment

If you have ever worked an office job, you know that life can get boring and repetitive at times. You can be locked up for hours in your cubical leaving a butt imprint that lasts the life of that chair. Sometimes it gets hard to move around and keep your blood flowing, and sometimes it gets hard holding on to your sanity as you stare endlessly into whatever document or program you are working on. Hopefully you don’t have a job that blocks access to most every entertaining Website. Either way, hopefully I can provide you with plenty of ideas on how to make time pass by and help you enjoy your workday more. Suggestions are welcome.

Play Computer Games
Have playtime! Take some time to play some games. If you are lucky and your job did not take your games away, you can play some Minesweeper or Solitaire. Otherwise, Yahoo (http://games.yahoo.com/) has plenty of games like Spades, Pool, Scrabble among others.

Manual Games
Play simple games like Rock, Paper, Scissors or Tic-Tac-Toe. Maybe play some sudoku or crossword puzzles.

Gain Useless Knowledge
Play on any of the Wiki sites. Choose a random person or word and start searching for it on Wikipedia. Also try Wikiquote, Wikispecies, Wikibooks, or the Wikimedia Commons. There is so much information on the Wiki pages that you can learn about anything. Sometimes I listen for keywords or questions from coworkers, and I immediately look them up and act like I had knowledge on that subject.

Instant Messenger
Most of the time your favorite chat software is blocked at work. However, if you can access your Gmail or Yahoo Mail, you can load the chats right through your email window. Through Gmail you can even sign into your AIM. You can always pass time when you can talk to your friends, family, or coworkers on the other side of the office.

Bucket List
Take the time to write up a list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket.” How many years could you have left to do everything you have ever wanted to do? Time is running out. Write out your list and then take the time to plan out how you will tackle the items on your list.

LinkedIn
Everyone is on Facebook and MySpace, and it’s a shame they can be blocked in your office. Try a different site. See how many of your friends and coworkers you can find on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/).

Fantasy Sports
Start betting pools with fantasy sports. Bet on games or how a team does for a season.

Random Acts
Stupid or not, perform some random acts that grab your coworkers attention. Be careful not to interrupt too many while they are working really hard, but everyone can use a little mind break from their work so why not let it be you to cause it? Some examples are sudden outbursts, talking to yourself, laughing for no reason, banging on your desk, or walking up and slapping someone on the back really hard.

The High Five
Bring back the high five! A favorite pastime of many. Create super, complex high fives that would even make gangs jealous. Either create one for your department or team, or for your best office friend that is only unique to you two.

Sports
Bring in a small Nerf ball to kick around and dribble through the office. Another idea is to set up some Putt-Putt around the office. As long as you aren’t terrible, practicing your putting can be a relaxing break from work.

Fresh Air
This can go two ways. Either take a smoke break as much as possible, or take a break and go for a walk around the building or local business community you work at. Nothing more refreshing than some fresh air when you are stuck inside all day.

YouTube
Bring up YouTube and search for random videos to watch. Find some of your favorite TV shows, stupid pet tricks, or even go to my favorite and that is FAILBlog.org’s personal YouTube channel of mankind’s failures.

Exercise
Find an empty room or just go to the break room and start ding sit-ups and push-ups. Or you can walk up some steps, or do squats and lunges without weights, do dips in your chair, or try some butt squeezes. That is your own butt, not your coworkers.

Start a Going Problem
Create a fictitious illness that requires frequent bathroom visits. Maybe you caught a butt flu or had some bad hot dogs, but this form of entertainment is desperation to find any excuse to get out of the office.

Create an Alter Ego
Don’t tell anyone about, but see if they can figure it out. Pretend you are a CIA agent or cop, and your coworkers are evil villains. Good ol’ cops and robbers. Or maybe pretend you are on a reality show and everyone is watching you.

Friends
Start talking with coworkers to decide which Friends character each of your team would be. Hopefully you have an even number of guys and girls. Otherwise, pick other shows and have a crack at it.

Drink
Pretend the water cooler is beer and see how many cups of water you can chug in a minute.

Music
Either listen to music or create your own. Start singing at the top of your lungs, or dance around the office. People may stop and stare, but generally you are sure to pull a good laugh. It works for me. You may even want to take up playing the desk drums.

Stupid Human Pet Tricks
Try balancing a spoon on your nose, shoot waste into the trashcan, see how many pages the shredder will shred without getting stuck, spin around as fast as you can in your office chair, learn to juggle.

Talk
Find an equally bored employee and debate ways to look like you are working while not really doing any work. Go back to the water cooler with your office buddies and start some Water Cooler Rumors. They don’t have to be true, but be careful you don’t target anyone who would be offended.

Start a Blog Post!
Hmmmm, maybe that is why I started one. If you are like me and always have a lot on your mind, start a blog and write about your thoughts for strangers to read online, including a blog on office job entertainment.

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